More wind power In the breeze

Warrnambool Standard
Friday 19/10/2007 Page: 3

ONE hundred more wind turbines are proposed for farmland within south-west Victoria by a company which has revealed its plans for two sites near Mortlake. The wind industry has targeted Moyne Shire with numerous projects in recent years. The rural council is already collecting more than $1 million in rates from the companies running 20 turbines at Yambuk and 14 turbines in Codrington. However, that is only the tip of the iceberg with eight projects either approved, awaiting development or in the early stages of planning. While it is unlikely all the projects will go ahead, if they do the shire could be known as a green energy hub and home to 479 turbines.

Acciona Energy's managing director Brett Thomas said the company's latest $300 million project was to install about 50 wind turbines on each site near Mortlake. Turbines will be located five kilometres south of the town near the Mortlake-Terang Road and the other site is 9.5km east of Mortlake along the Hamilton Highway towards Darlington. The wind farm would produce enough green electricity to power about 86,000 homes and prevent around 390,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year.

The company has spent 14 months collecting wind data about the sites and is conducting an environmental study. A spokeswoman for the company said the project was in the early planning and community consultation stages. She said turbine layouts of the farms were still to be decided. The single submission for both sites is expected to be submitted to Planning Minister Justin Madden by the end of the year. Moyne Shire acting chief executive Greg Anders said the shire would consult the community and make a submission to the minister.